Commitment from Ottawa needed to furthering Arctic Ocean science

Waterloo Region Record

Most Canadians often forget that our nation is one of only a handful of countries acting as custodian of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.

As such, it makes sense that Canada initially proposed World Oceans Day back in 1992. Since then, every June 8 is a chance for us to reflect on the health of our oceans and seas. For one patient in particular, the signs aren’t good.

While the Atlantic and Pacific oceans capture most of our attention, the Arctic Ocean needs our focus most. Among our ocean ecosystems, the Arctic is perhaps least understood, and arguably the least directly affected by human activity.

That is changing — quickly. Scientists and northerners — the Inuit and Invialuit of Canada’s Arctic for example — are bearing witness to disturbing changes along the vast, largely frozen and seemingly inhospitable body of water that makes up close to two-thirds of our coastline. More than a few hunters, in hamlets like Qikiqtarjuaq and Arctic Bay, have talked to me about the environmental — and social and economic — changes they have seen in their lifetimes. The challenges they face moving forward are significant.

A reduction in summer sea ice has resulted in a larger and more prolonged open water season. Poor quality ice and unpredictability of the ice has made subsistence hunting an increasingly dangerous activity for those whose livelihood depends on it. Less ice also has the potential to enable increased ship traffic, thus encouraging oil and natural gas exploration in a sensitive ecosystem, and even raising the possibility of increased militarization to settle sovereignty disputes and natural resource claims.

Beyond the observable physical changes, melting sea ice may unlock contaminants and release “legacy pollutants,” adding to the risks to human health and marine ecosystems. And most worryingly, many of the physical changes in the Arctic Ocean will not necessarily be gradual or incremental, making our responses (whether economic, social or political) that much more difficult.

Evidence is mounting that biophysical conditions in the Arctic Ocean are reaching tipping points — that we may be near a critical threshold beyond which sea ice cover will permanently decline, with little hope of going back.

The consequences of such changes will extend far beyond the Arctic Ocean: open water from melting ice absorbs more heat, adding to an already warming world; changes to the Arctic system have the potential to alter the thermohaline circulation — large-scale ocean circulation patterns driven by temperature and salinity — with uncertain consequences for climate patterns in the Northern Hemisphere. Rapid changes and tipping points in the Arctic Ocean system will almost certainly cascade through other physical, economic and social systems from the local to global scales.

But what can be done?

Politically courageous acts will be required. Federal government engagement with climate science is necessary. Support for a moratorium on oil and gas development in the high Arctic may be prudent, not just because of the threat of spills, but because of a very limited ability to deal with those spills when they happen. And 2,000 scientists recently signed a letter calling for a moratorium on fishing in the Arctic in light of the increased access, and in the absence of sound science and management upon which to base fishing decisions. We should pay heed to this warning, but recent moves to alter much of Canada’s environmental legislation — Bill C-38 — will probably make protecting the Arctic environment more difficult.

Building a knowledge base to navigate the coming changes to the Arctic Ocean will be crucial. Here, a federal government commitment to furthering Arctic science is a paramount need.

Maintaining the capacity to monitor and observe, in-situ, environmental change is fundamental to our understanding of the Arctic Ocean. But as importantly, efforts to understand and respond to changes in the Arctic Ocean and wider region must be led by northerners — like the ones I have learned from and many others.

The Inuit and Inuvialuit of Canada’s North, for example, are keen observers of environmental change and have many lessons to offer about how to respond. And many of the more innovative approaches to understand and adapt to change in the Arctic context that I have observed are taking place at the sub-national level, and involve long-term partnerships with northern communities, co-management boards, government agencies, and in some cases industry.

They aren’t easy, but that’s because they involve collaboration, learning, sharing of knowledge, and ultimately, involve shifts in the way decisions are made and by whom. The spirit and principle of these initiatives need to be scaled up. What better time than Canada’s own idea, World Oceans Day, to lend our support?

Derek Armitage is associate professor in environment and resource studies and leads the environmental change and governance group in the faculty of environment, University of Waterloo.